Comoros seeks life term for ex-president Sambi for high treason

Prosecutors in the Comoros sought a life sentence for former president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi who was tried in absentia for high treason.

Sambi, 64, the arch opponent to current president Azali Assoumani, faces charges related to the alleged sale of Comorian passports to stateless people living in Gulf nations.

"He betrayed the mission entrusted to him by the Comorians," said public prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid before the elite State Security Court.

He demanded life imprisonment for Sambi and a verdict is expected on November 29.

Sambi, who led the small Indian Ocean archipelago between 2006 and 2011, passed a law in 2008 allowing the sale of passports at an exorbitant fee.

The ex-leader is accused of embezzling millions of dollars under the scheme, which the prosecution said cost the government over 1.8 million dollars -- more than the GDP of the impoverished archipelago.

Sambi was originally prosecuted for corruption, but the charges were reclassified as high treason, a crime that "does not exist in Comorian law".

Sambi refused to attend the trial, as his lawyers said there were no guarantees he would be judged fairly.

Sambi had already spent four years behind bars before he faced trial, far exceeding the maximum eight months. He was originally placed under house arrest for disturbing public order.

Three months later he was put under pre-trial detention for embezzlement, corruption and forgery, in the so-called "economic citizenship" scandal before being slapped with the high treason charges.